Laboratory and Bioengineering Core B, directed by Scott A. John, PhD, will provide support to PPG Projects in the following areas: 1. Molecular biology and gene transfer vectors 2. Pathology and histology 3. High speed laser confocal fluorescence imaging 4. Customized bio-instrumentation fabrication and maintenance The molecular biology component will be conducted in the Cardiovascular Research Laboratory in the MacDonald Research Building, under the direct supervision of Dr. Scott John, who leads the molecular biology group in Dr. Weiss's laboratory. Dr. Yibin Wang, an expert in gene vector development, will provide advice and oversight in this area, in collaboration with Dr. John. The histopathology component will be conducted in the Cardiovascular Research Laboratory in the MacDonald Research Building, performed by Fuhua Chen, MD, a cardiovascular physiologist, under the direct oversight of Michael Fishbein, MD, an internationally recognized cardiovascular pathologist and chief of autopsy pathology at UCLA Medical Center, who has a longstanding interaction with the PPG investigators. The high speed laser confocal fluorescence imaging in live cells will be overseen by Joshua Goldhaber, MD, a cardiovascular physiologist (and cardiologist) who is an expert in cardiac excitation contraction coupling. The bioengineering component will be headed by John Parker who has provided technical expertise for many of the PPG investigators in the past. He runs the Biomedical Instrumentation Facility, housed in the UCLA Center for the Health Sciences Building, which is readily accessible to the PPG investigators. This facility has extensive experience providing biomedical instrumentation services for scientists and physicians, having designed and constructed many of the instruments currently being utilized by the PPG investigators.